SISTERS from Slough have been spared jail after attempting to secure an £82,000 discount on the purchase of their family home using the government’s Right to Buy scheme.
Fatima Zahra, 37, and Nasra Ban, 35, were handed suspended sentences after a court heard about their ‘embarrassment’ in being convicted of the fraud offences.
At Reading Crown Court, a defence barrister alleged that it was the sisters’ brother who pressured the siblings to send off a fake application to get the discount.
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The siblings appeared at court having committed the fraud in September 2019.
The court heard how Ban was a council tenant at the time.
In order to qualify for the Right to Buy discount in a joint application, which allows council tenants to buy their council home, applicants need to prove they have lived in the property for the preceding 12 months.
It was Zahra’s claim on the Right to Buy application that she had lived in the property -- on Granville Avenue, Slough -- for the past year, when in fact she lived in Rochdale (more than 200 miles away).
In order to prove this, Zahra doctored bank statements from Natwest and Barclays in an attempt to show she had made transactions in Slough and these were included in the sisters’ joint application.
The property was valued at £314,000 and the Right to Buy scheme would have enabled the sisters to receive a discount of £82,000, prosecutor Rebecca Foulkes said.
Slough Borough Council received the application and referred it to a UK fraud team, who made enquiries with the sisters.
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Zahra initially maintained she had lived at the property for the past 12 months, but later admitted this was false and the application was withdrawn.
Defending, Mohammed Nawaz said it was the sisters’ brother who was the “driving force” behind the application and that the women played “secondary roles.”
He continued: “Both defendants accept these are very serious offences they have led themselves to.
“They accept what they did was entirely wrong.
“They were not motivated by greed.
“They deeply regret and are hugely ashamed and embarrassed for finding themselves before the court.”
Sentencing, Her Honour Judge Real accepted the application was made to secure stable accommodation for the sisters’ mother and that it was their brother who was “driving the process.”
However, she added: “You both had a significant role in the activity, but not a leading role.
“There must have been some planning on each of your behalves.”
Considering her sentence, the Judge added: “Each of you have been deemed as low risk of reoffending, it seems you are both ashamed of yourselves and I would concur with that assessment.”
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Zahra, of Arkwright Avenue, Rochdale, was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months for one count of fraud by false representation and two counts of making an article for use in fraud.
Ban, of Granville Avenue, Slough, was given a 10 month prison sentence suspended for 18 months for one count of fraud by false representation.
Both defendants were ordered to pay £1,956 in court costs and were told to take part in up to 15 rehabilitation activity days.
The sisters were sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Monday, November 15.
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